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Growing up, my sister was almost infamous for saying “get the camera!” whenever anything happened, no matter how trivial. From announcing my pregnancy, to capturing the time a bat got stuck in her hair, “get the camera” was a fabled family phrase.

Photography classes for parents?

The importance of capturing life’s little moments has been emphasized to me many times and, as a mom, it’s become an essential practice.

My daughter seems to grow up faster than I can keep up, and taking a moment to “get the camera” is becoming a good habit.

I’ve not always been so good at it though. When she was a baby (and camera phones were still a bit of a rarity), I didn’t take pictures every day. I’ve also always been a bit rubbish with handling anything that takes pictures. Most of her baby pictures are full of blurry smiles and my greatest regret is that I own almost no pictures of her with my parents. Now that she’s seven and almost as tall as me, I try and catch a little memory every day.'I remember when...'

It helps that our family members seem to be hell-bent on capturing every moment. My boyfriend is a keen recorder of life, and he’s kept beautiful audio recordings of her reading, laughing and singing. His mom is responsible for every single good picture you’ve ever seen of me and I’m open now to dealing with a lens in my face every time I see her. My daughter’s grandfather is always at the ready with his camera too, and I am so grateful for an abundance of memories I can hang on the wall.

Perhaps my all-time favourite shots are the ones where she’s at play. Natural, unposed and usually blasting a smile across her face, she’s resplendent in joy and freedom. It is those pictures that I hold dearest to my heart as they capture the very essence of her sweet spirit.

When her twenty-first birthday rolls around, I know I’ll be able to make that cute collage of her life with ease, and show her how she grew. I’ll be able to laugh with her over some of her crazy outfits, and swoon with her over her cute grin.

Every day with my daughter is a memory waiting to be made, and we’re determined to capture them.

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